1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an information processing method and, particularly, to a method of specifying one of a plurality of servers in having such server process a request transmitted from an information terminal via a network, or a method of accessing to such server from another information terminal.
2. Prior Art
An internet comprises a plurality of computer networks which are interconnected so that any computer on a given network can communicate with one or more computers on a given other network. A gateway computer is a computer which interconnects two networks to deliver data from one of the networks to the other.
All computers on the internet communicate via a specific protocol, i.e., the internet protocol (IP). Most of applications use a transmission control protocol (TCP) along with the internet protocol. Thus, the internet is also called a TCP/IP network. A computer connected to the internet is identified by a unique internet address.
The internet routes information using a well known packet exchange technique. Data is transmitted on the internet via a packet (also called an IP packet) having an address associated therewith. A typical internet application may have an electronic mail, an FTP, a Telnet and a network news implemented therein. The communication protocol and application are well known.
The world wide web (i.e., WWW or Web) is an information service system based on the internet. The WWW uses a hyper text and a client/server technique.
The hyper text is a method of constructing and presenting information so that a data object in a hyper test file can have a link to another hyper text file or a data object. For example a user can select a word having a link while a hyper text page is displayed so that the user can move to another hyper text file including other text or picture(s) which describes about that word (the new file may also have a link to further hyper text file and so on).
Many of the hyper text files are currently structured using the hyper text mark-up language (HTML). The hyper text data object may be in the form of any information medium including a text, an image, a voice, a moving picture or an executable computer program. Any hyper text file on the web is uniquely identified by its universal resource locator (URL).
A Web Client or a client (typically, a computer which executes a program called a browser) is essentially a hyper text reader communicating with a Web Server via a specific data transfer protocol such as a hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP). The client requests a hyper text file using the URL to display the file on a graphical user interface (GUI). This display is called a web page. The client can return specific data to the server and call a common gateway interface (CGI) program on the server computer to perform a specific task. Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer are currently known as a typical browser. Netscape Navigator is a trademark of Netscape Communications Corporation while Internet Explorer is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
The WWW allows a user located anywhere on the internet to transmit a hyper text file via the WWW and retrieve any hyper text file in the world as easily as a local hard disk. The user is thus provided with a powerful tool to obtain information and the internet becomes a hyper media global database, i.e., an information super highway.
The internet and the WWW have been explosively expanded recently. Enterprises also envision a large possibility of using the internet and the WWW as a next generation worldwide communication infra structure to enter a tremendously large consumer market.
A collaboration technology has been proposed in such internet technology to allow a plurality of users to simultaneously collaborate (view, move or modify) on an HTML page as seen in Japanese Publn. No. 10-124461. FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example where a collaboration of the HTML page is applied to an internet banking system. A bank agent can refer to a same page as one referred to by a customer and operate upon it by using such technology.
However, HTML data which a plurality of collaborating users obtain needs to be synchronized because there exists an HTML page in which the content changes as time goes such as a page of stock price information and a page containing a moving picture. Therefore, when one of the plurality of collaborating users transmits an HTML request, there was a need to introduce a collaboration server which caches the content of a response to the request and distributes it to other collaborating members. However, when the number of customers and agents dealing therewith or the amount of data handled increases in such collaboration system, the collaboration server is heavily loaded and it is afraid that the processing time is extended with resulting degraded services.
On the other hand, while several tens thousands of access requests come to a favorite web site such as a news flash of Olympic games, there is a technology which makes a plurality of servers look virtually like a single server to process the requests without degrading the performance (FIG. 20). While the requests are processed by a plurality of servers actually in this technology, the address as seen from the accessing side is only one (www.olympic.co.jp, in the example of FIG. 20) and the servers look like a single server. An example of such product is xe2x80x9ceNetwork Dispatcher V2.0xe2x80x9d (eNetwork Dispatcher is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation). While this network dispatcher looks like a single server as seen from a client, it has a plurality of servers in a cluster. When a request is received from a client, load information of the plurality of servers is determined to allocate the request from the client to the server having the least load.
However, the following problems are involved in applying such dispatching technique to the collaboration technology.
1. It is impossible to know to which server in the cluster the actual request is allocated.
2. When it is wanted to access to a server in the cluster without the dispatcher intervened, the address of the cluster (URL), i.e., www.olympic.co.jp (9.1.1.4) can not be used. This is because the dispatcher allocates the request to the least loaded server in the manner similar to a normal request.
Therefore, a technology of specifying a server in a cluster allocated by a dispatcher and connecting an agent to that server is needed.
It is an object of this invention to specify one of a plurality of servers in having such one of the servers process a request transmitted from an information terminal via a network.
It is another object of this invention to access to one of a plurality of servers from an information terminal in having such one of the servers process a request transmitted from another information terminal via a network.
It is another object of this invention to provide a computer system which does not depend on a platform of an operated information terminal.
It is another object of this invention to access to one of a plurality of servers from an information terminal without a dispatcher intervened in having such one of the servers process a request transmitted from another information terminal via a network.
It is a further object of this invention to assign an agent having a skill which fits the content of customer""s query in an internet call center.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a system which can notify a customer side of the availability status of agents and allows the customer side to select whether to wait connection to the agent in an internet call center.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a system which deals with a case where the skill of the agent does not match the content of customer""s query in the internet call center after it is connected to the customer and reduces a work load such as transferring to an agent having a skill which matches the content of the query.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a system which can inform beforehand its own condition in contacting an agent to enable a smooth communication in the internet call center.
The present invention is directed to a method of communicating between a first information terminal and a second information terminal, said method comprising the steps of;
(a) sending a first request sent to an address of a cluster of a dispatcher from said first information terminal to one of a plurality of servers managed by said dispatcher,
(b) allocating information which can specify said first information terminal in said one of the servers,
(c) receiving a second request requesting connection to the second information terminal from said first information terminal in said one of the servers,
(d) storing said information which can specify said first information terminal and the information which can specify said one of the servers in correlation to each other,
(e) specifying a second information terminal to be connected to said one of the servers,
(f) accessing to said one of the servers from said second information terminal based on the information specifying said one of the servers which were stored in the step (d), and
(g) communicating between said first information terminal and said second information terminal.
The term xe2x80x9cinformation which can specify the first information terminalxe2x80x9d is a concept including a customer ID to be described later in the embodiment of this invention. Also, the term xe2x80x9cinformation which can specify the second information terminalxe2x80x9d is a concept including an extension number of an agent to be described later in the embodiment of this invention as well as the employee number and the user ID of the agent. Further, the term xe2x80x9cinformation which can specify one of the serversxe2x80x9d is a concept including the IP address to be described later in the embodiment of this invention.
The present invention is further directed to a method of communicating between a first information terminal and a second information terminal, said method comprising the steps of;
(a) sending a first request sent from a Web Browser of a first information terminal to an address of a cluster of a dispatcher to a Web Server of one of a plurality of servers managed by said dispatcher,
(b) allocating information which can specify said first information terminal in said one of the servers,
(c) sending to said first information terminal a response including a content which displays information which can specify said first information terminal, an object instructing to connect to a second information terminal, and an entry for inputting a telephone number of the operator of said first information terminal on a display device of said first information terminal,
(d) receiving a second request requesting connection to the second information terminal and including information which can specify said first information terminal and a telephone number of the operator of said first information terminal, said second request being generated by operating said object in said first information terminal,
(e) storing said information which can specify said first information terminal and the information which can specify said one of the servers in correlation to each other,
(f) storing the telephone number of the operator of said first information terminal and information which can specify said first information terminal in correlation to each other,
(g) specifying a second information terminal to be connected to said one of the servers,
(h) storing information which can specify said second information terminal and information which can specify said first information terminal in correlation to each other,
(i) accessing to said one of the servers from said second information terminal based on the information specifying said one of the servers which were stored in the step (e), and
(j) communicating between said first information terminal and said second information terminal.
(k) sending a third request instructing a voice connection and including information which can specify the telephone number of the operator of said second information terminal in response to an operation instructing a voice connection of said second information terminal, and
(l) connecting the telephone of the operator of said first information terminal to the telephone of the operator of said second information terminal in response to the third request.
The term xe2x80x9cobject instructing connection to the second information terminalxe2x80x9d is a concept including xe2x80x9cCall upxe2x80x9d button to be described in the embodiment of this invention.
Still further, the present invention is directed to a method of communicating between a first information terminal and a second information terminal, said method comprising the steps of;
(a) connecting said first information terminal to one of a plurality of servers based on address information sent to said one of the servers which can support said first information terminal, said address information being obtained by said first information terminal from a dispatcher,
(b) storing information which can specify said first information terminal and information which can specify said one of the servers in correlation to each other,
(c) connecting a second information terminal desiring communication with said first information terminal to said one of the servers based on information specifying the one of the servers which was stored in said step (b), and
(d) communicating between said first information terminal and said second information terminal.
Still even further, the present invention relates to a method of accessing to one of a plurality of servers which are under the management of a dispatcher, said method comprising the steps of;
(a) storing information which can specify one of the servers managed by said dispatcher and is accessed from a first information terminal via said dispatcher, and information which can specify said first information terminal in correlation to each other, and
(b) accessing to said one of the servers from a second information terminal based on information specifying the one of the servers which was stored in said step (a).
Yet further, the present invention provides a communication system supporting communication between a first information terminal and a second information terminal, said system comprising;
(a) a Dispatcher for managing a plurality of servers and allocating a first request from the first information terminal to one of said plurality of servers,
(b) a UAI Manager for allocating information which can specify said first information terminal,
(c) a Collaboration Manager for supporting a Collaboration Software installed in said first and said second information terminals,
(d) a CTI Interface for managing a managing table which stores information which can specify said first information terminal and information which can specify said second information terminal in correlation to each other,
(e) a CTI Server for specifying the second information terminal to be connected to said first information terminal, and
(f) an Agent Proxy for accessing to said one of the servers based on information obtained from said managing table and specifying said one of the servers.
Still further, the present invention is directed to a communication system supporting communication between a first information terminal and a second information terminal, said system comprising;
(a) a Web Browser for sending a first request from the first information terminal,
(b) a Dispatcher for managing a plurality of servers and allocating a first request to one of said plurality of servers,
(c) a UAI Manager for allocating information which can specify said first information terminal,
(d) a Web Server for sending to said first information terminal a response including a content which displays information which can specify said first information terminal, an object instructing to connect to a second information terminal, and an entry for inputting a telephone number of the operator of said first information terminal on a display device of said first information terminal,
(e) a CTI Interface for sending a message instructing to specify the second information terminal which is to communicate with said first information terminal in response to transmission of a second request requesting connection to the second information terminal and including information which can specify said first information terminal and a telephone number of the operator of said first information terminal, said second request being generated by operating said object in said first information terminal,
(f) a Matching Table for storing the information which can specify said first information terminal, the information which can specify said second information terminal and information which can specify said one of the servers in correlation to each other,
(g) a Managing Table for storing the telephone number of the operator of said first information terminal and information which can specify said first information terminal in correlation to each other,
(h) an Agent Proxy for accessing to said one of the servers from said second information terminal based on the information specifying said one of the servers which is obtained from said matching table,
(i) a CTI Server/Client Application for sending a third request instructing a voice connection and including information which can specify the telephone number of the operator of said second information terminal in response to an operation instructing a voice connection of said second information terminal, and
(j) a PBX for connecting the telephone of the operator of said first information terminal to the telephone of the operator of said second information terminal in response to the third request.
Yet still even further, the present invention is directed to a recording medium storing a control program for accessing to one of a plurality of servers which are under the management of a dispatcher, said program including a program code which instructs to access to a managing table storing information which can specify the one of the servers accessed from said first information terminal via said dispatcher and information which can specify said first information terminal in correlation to each other, and to access to said one of the servers from said second information terminal based on information specifying the one of the servers which is stored in said managing table.